The manifesto also says that it will launch a ’50 Startup Scheme’ for minorities.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi has promised Rs 1 crore of ‘startup subsidy’ through the party’s manifesto that was released on Friday for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections.

The manifesto says that there will be a ‘startup subsidy’ of upto approximately Rs 1 crore for the startups. The subsidy would have a grant component of upto Rs 25 lakhs and soft loan about Rs 75 lakhs at the rate of 6 percent.

The Congress party’s manifesto also says, among one of the key IT sector initiatives that it will undertake, that Karnataka will house over 20,000 tech-based startups, including 6,000 product startups by 2020 through its Multi-Sector Startup Policy.

As per the manifesto, this will translate into 1.8 million job opportunities for the state. It goes on to say that the party will ‘increase’ the number of startups to 20,000, where about 5000 of them will be assisted by Venture Capital.

The manifesto also says that it will launch a ’50 Startup Scheme’ for minorities. The scheme will fund 50 startups of minorities in the incubation stage with a funding of 10-20 lakhs for each startup.

Gandhi described the manifesto as the “voice of the people of Karnataka” and not a document prepared by ‘three or four people in a closed room’.